A photo provided by the international aid organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) shows migrants being transferred from a wooden boat to their rescue ship MY Phoenix in the Mediterranean Sea, 14 May 2015. EPA/BGNES
A total of 4,243 migrants have been rescued from boats in the Mediterranean over the past 24 hours while trying to reach Europe in inflatable dinghies and fishing boats, the Italian coast guard has said.
Seventeen migrants were found dead. The reasons for their death was not immediately known, according to AFP.
The latest number of migrants rescued in one day is among the biggest this year with warm spring weather and calm seas encouraging departures.
Those saved over the past 24 hours were rescued in 22 separate operations off the coast of Libya coordinated by the Italian coast guard and involving ships from Belgium, Britain, Germany, Italy and Ireland.
The European Commission on Wednesday proposed measures designed to improve the management of migration, including through distributing 40,000 migrants from Italy and Greece among other EU member states under a quota mechanism.